Canada welcomes migrants, talent, ideas, says Immigration Minister

Ahmed Hussein, Canadian Immigration Minister, said their country will keep continuing to attract skilled tech talent, although there seems to be an air of protectionism elsewhere in the world.

On a visit to Communitech, Hussen said on 24 April that they were open to ideas, migrants and talent. While interacting with representatives of companies such as Clear path Robotics and D2L, he said that he would not comment on the immigration policies that other countries have adopted.

As anti-immigrant and anti-free trade mood engulfs Europe and with uncertainty hovering over H-1B visa scheme in the US, he said that their government’s response was maintaining status quo in business by continuing with policies already in place or those intended to make it simpler for Canadian companies to employ skilled people they need to develop.

Hussen was quoted by Communitech News as saying that the express entry plan they had launched in Canada was prior to the US elections. He said that their country had always been aspirational in trying to attract the crème-de-la-crème. According to him, Global Skills Strategy, changes to express entry and the startup visa program were things that demonstrate they were continuing to work on.

The Canadian government, meanwhile, is slated to launch its Global Skills Strategy program on 12 June, which presents to participating employers an efficient procedure to enable run through worker applications for professions with skills shortages in just 10 days.

In addition, the government has committed $280 million over five years to launch the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the International Mobility Program to allow companies of Canada to hire foreign workers.